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tv   [untitled]    April 16, 2012 1:30pm-2:00pm EDT

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the committee will come to order. the custom of this committee to read our mission statement at the start of every hearing.
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i think particularly today it's important that we read it. the oversight committee's mission statement is that we exist to secure two fundamental principals. first, americans have a right to know that the money washington takes from them is well spent. and second americans deserve an efficient, effective government that works for them. our duty on the oversight government reform committee is to protect these rights. our solemn responsibility is to hold government accountable to tax payers because tax payers have a right to know what they get from their government. it is our job to work tirelessly in partnership with citizen watchdogs to deliver the facts to the american people and bring genuine reform to the federal bureaucracy. this is our mission statement. and i might add, when i say citizens watchdogs that does include the inspector generals. we're here today to gets ans to questions that should have been
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asked and answered long, long, long time ago. the details that have come to light about the gsa conference held in las vegas have raised serious questions in the minds of the american people about how government is using their tax dollars. there are those who believe government and its reach should be expanded. they believe that government should be bigger, have more resources and play a larger role in the every day lives of the american people. what has come to light surrounding gsa's activities does give us pause for thought and to anyone who opposes cutting government size spending that in fact there is much to be cut in government spending. there are five key questions that still stand out and hopefully by the end of this hearing some will be answered. first and foremost, why did it
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take 11 months for this investigation under the obama administration to come to light in a way in which meaningful action could begin. the inspector general briefed the administrator about details, about details in an interim report and gave details of those responsible for gross waste. yet indications have some political appointees believe even this year that this report should be kept private. we on the committee find that outrageous. although it is the custom of many inspector generals to inform this committee prior to a final report, that alone is not unusual. however, the fact that 11 months transpired gives us a particular reason to say how long after an interim report is delivered and no action is taken before
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congress is to be informed. there are still questions regarding martha johnson as administrator. who asked her to resign. what specific reason was she asked to be resigned for? was it because she was responsible for the events that unfolded at the convention or because she mishandled the public relations of the fall out that came 11 months later. mr. robinson served as a person advisor to the president. it begs the question, are we really to believe that the chief of staff to the gsa administrator and the right hand man didn't know anything about this for all this time. and if he didn't, shouldn't he have? did he communicate the
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seriousness of this situation to the white house and if so, when? why was jeff neely a regional public building service commissioner who was the chief organizer of the 2010 las vegas conference given a bonus approved by the agency's most senior officials even though they knew and were discussing sensational details of what had happened at the conference. question here has to be all the good works, all the assertions of a good job, if you have this kind of abuse can they balance out to be a positive bonus totaling over $9,000. and finally, while we are determined to uncover the full truth about what went wrong and why it is equally important to look to the future, i want to thank the gsa's new acting administrato
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administrators, i'm going to get it right much sooner, for being here today and testifying. he called me shortly after taking the job. assured me as one would expect that he didn't know everything, knew there was a problem and would work diligently to fix it. that's all we can ask from him is that mistakes when made are remedied, corrective action is taken and that it be done in a professional way with an understanding that the bureaucracy is fact neither republican nor democratic. that every administration faces these problems and that the solutions will not come by us pointing fingers to this administration, the last administration or the next administration. wasteful spending is a problem that transcends multiple administrations. but it is incumbent on the president of the administration to change the culture as best they can on their watch and
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leave to the next administration a better one than they inherited. with that i recognize the distinguished raning member mr. cummings for his opening statement. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. i want to begin by thanking mr. miller the inspector general and gsa for bringing to light this gross abuse of taxpayer funds and for his work over the past year investigating conference 2010. two weeks ago i along with the rest of the nation was appalled to learn the results of this investigation that gsa employees betrayed the trust we put in them. for example, the inspector general's report described the actions of jeff neely, a career gsa employee for many years and a senior level executive in the
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pacific rim region based in san francisco. he is certainly not the only official implicated in this investigation and several others appeared to have maximized their own benefit in an environment in which they knew -- they knew they could get away with it. nevertheless, mr. neely's role as the host of the 2010 conference has raised significant questions. according to report mr. neely engaged in an indefensible and intolerable pattern of misconduct including repeatedly violating federal travel and procurement rules, holding lavish parties in luxury suites and allowing his wife and other nongovernment officials to participate in some of these events at taxpayers' expense. in addition documents obtained
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by the inspector general indicate that mr. neely was aware that his actions were inappropriate. >> one email mr. neely invited personal friends writing quote, this is incredible, quote, we'll get you guys a room near us. we'll pick up the room tab. it will be a blast. end of quote. he then wrote, went on and wrote this, i know i'm bad. but as deb and i often say, why not enjoy it while we have it and while we can? ain't going to last forever. end of quote. mr. neely it stops now. the record indicates that mr. neely's wife personally handled party arrangements, directed the asbestoses of federal employees and ordered thousands of dollars
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in food and not at their expense, but the expense of taxpayers. in one case mr. neely's wife reportedly impersonated a federal employee so she could join him at a private sector conference. the impression conveyed by these documents is that mr. neely and his wife believe they were some sort of agency royalty who used taxpayer funds to bankroll their lavish lifestyle. they disregarded one of the basic tenants of government service. it's not your money. it's the taxpayers' money. some of my questions will be about the inspector general's religious to get some of that money back. i want to know who you we can recoup these funds. including from mr. neely and
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other gsa employees personally. i understand the justice department may be examining mr. neely's actions and he intends to invoke the fifth amendment today. that is his right under the constitution. and the committee to act responsibility in respect to his decision. however, i do not support granting mr. neely immunity at this time, mr. chairman. on thursday, the chairman sent a letter to mr. neely's attorney suggesting that the chairman was considering immunizing him. on friday his attorney responded positively writing that mr. neely quote will abide by the appropriate court order and the procedures under the immunity statute.
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granting immunity is a serious action since it can negatively impact the future criminal prosecution or prosecutions. such a decision requires thoughtful considerations and consultation with the justice department. our committee has no consultations aboutments and i see no reason to immunize mr. neely if he has taken the actions of which he stands accused. in addition to addressing the actions of specific individuals, we need to understand how the system allowed this pattern in this case. the extent to which it happened in previous cases and the reforms necessary to prevent it from ever happening again. according to interviews by the inspector general's office, these activities were going on for years. when discussing the 2010 conference the witness stated the planning of it was similar
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to what happened in previous scenes. we just kind of proceeded based on that. when investigators asked another witness whether the 2010 conference was an outlier. he said it was pretty consistent with previous conferences and although mr. neely wanted to do better than they did in 2008, there was not much difference. let me close by noting that one of the most damaging aspects of this incident is that it tarnishes the reputation of hard working government workers who dedicate their lives to public service. it gives them a bad name. and it is completely unfair. there are employees across the government who follow the rules every single day. they pool their money out of their own pockets to pay for coffee at their office. they're honest and hard working and they should not be painted with the same brush. mr. chairman, i thank you for
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calling this hearing and with that i yield back. >> i thank the gentleman. pursuant to our rules i ask you to consent that our colleague from missouri miss emerson with allowed to participate in today's hearing without objection so ordered. all members will have seven days to submit opens statements for record. we now recognize our panel. the honorable brian d. miller is the inspector general of the general services administration. miss martha n. johnson is the former administrator of the general services administration. mr. jeff neely is the regional commissioner of public building services in the pacific rim region at the general services administration. mr. michael j. robertson is chief of staff at the general services administration and mr. david e. foley is the deputy commissioner of public building service at the general services administration. pursuant to our rules all
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witnesses are required to take the oath, would you please rise, raise your right hand to take the oath. do you solemnly swear or affirm that the testimony you're about to give will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. let the record reflect that all witnesses answered in the affirmative. in order to allow time for discussion testimony will be limited to five minutes. some of you have written statements some do not. in other case -- your written statement will be platsed in the record in their entirety. you may read your written statement for five minutes or make other such comments that you think may be helpful to all of us. with that the chair recognizes mr. miller for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman, good afternoon -- >> would you pull the mic as close as you can tolerate.
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>> chairman, issa, ranking member cummings, members of the committee thank you for inviting me to testify here today. as you know on april 2nd of this year i published a report regarding gsa mismanagement of its western regions conference in fall of 2010. it may be very difficult among all the bad news and repugnant behavior to find but there is at least a glimmer of good news. the oversight system worked. my office aggressively investigated, interviewed witnesses and issued a report. no one stopped us from writing the report and no one stopped us from publishing the report. someone said justice brandeis is said to be the best of disinfolk
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tants. let's hope so. unfortunately we may be the last resort for protecting taxpayer dollars and unfortunately catching the fraud wasteful abuse after the money is spent. more needs to be done to establish early warning systems and that is why acting administrator and i reminded gsa employees to alert us as soon as they see anything wrong. when gsa wastes its own money how can other agencies trust it to handle the taxpayer dollars given to them. as detailed in my report gsa committed numerous violations of contracting regulations and federal travel regulation. this is a special concern because other federal agencies need to be able to look to gsa as a model of how to conduct contracting and conference planning. in attempting to model the
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sbreep neural spirit of a private business, some in the public building service seem to have forgotten that they have a special responsibility to the taxpayers to spend their money wisely and quickly. while a private business may use rewards to reward employees in a lavish fashion, a government agency may not. numerous dedicated professionals from throughout my office worked long hours to ensure the report was accurate and it drew no conclusions beyond those fully supported by the evidence. it is my hope that those efforts will enable gsa to improve its contracting and conference planning practices in the future so gsa may not only be a better steward of taxpayer dollars but act as a leader within the federal government in procurement and conference plannings. thank you for the opportunity to
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discuss this important report. i request that the report as well as my written statement be made part of the record. and i welcome any questions. thank you. >> thank you. miss johnson. >> chairman ranking member cummings and members of the committee, thank you for providing me the opportunity to present this testimony today. on april 2, 2012 i resigned as administrator of the general services administration. and left my cherished career as a public servant. i did so in order to step aside and allow a new team to rebuild gsa from major missteps regarding the western region's conference in october 2010. i previously served gsa in the clinton administration leaving in 2001, at that time the leadership was strong, scheduled design programs and other programs were producing much value for our customers, when i returned to gsa in 2010 the agency was not quite the same. a quarter of the executive positions were empty, strategy was nonexistent, major customers
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viewed our paltnership askance, and more expensive leasing portfolio had ballooned and more. nearly two years had elapsed without a confirmed administrator. though i received a unanimous vote by the senate my own confirmation was delayed by nine months, by the time i was sworn in the sequence of four acting administrators had overseen the agency. what i did not know was there was yet another problem, the western region's conference in economical training event in the late 1990s had evolved into a raucous extravagant, arrogant, self congratulatory event that ultimately belittled federal workers. leaders apparently competed in entertainment rather than building performance capability. the expensive planning for that conference was well under way when i entered and i was unaware of the scope. thus i began my tenure as administrator.
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i take this opportunity to thank the overwhelming majority of gsa employees, 13,000 of them who eagerly rose to the task of renewal. their record is extraordinary, a building portfolio 22% more efficient than private sector buildings, efficient management of 220,000 vehicle, 10 million trip reservations, billions in purchase card transactions. for my part i set about reconstituting gsa's executive team, over three quarters of the senior executives are now in different roles than when i arrive. the strategic path is clear, customers praise us, praise gsa publicly. the labor partnership is fruitful. there is e-mail in the cloud, f street headquarters which held 2500 people will be home to 4500 people next year, allowing gsa to relinquish leases and save millions.
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however, gsa's performance does not compensate for the ig and this committee. i greeted mr. miller's report on the conference without hesitation, agreeing completely with the recommendation. i am extremely agrieved by the gall of a handful of people to misuse federal tax dollars, twist contracting rules and defile the great name of the general services administration. this is how that chapter unfolded. around late october 2010, deputy administrator susan britter requested an investigation into the western region's conference. the ig subsequently communicated progress with a power point deck in may 2011, we realized this was a very serious matter and we needed all the facts how ever painful and disruptive. we were eager for the full report. in the interim i addressed leadership, organizational controls and conference management. i placed a new regional administrator relieving jeff
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neely of that responsibility. we also promptly back filled the region 9 regional council with reassignment. under controls i established a chief administrative services office reporting to me, with responsibility for gsa's acquisition, oversight of travel, conferences and the like. with conference management gsa had been over hauling conferences, the 50-year-old interagency resource management conference was evolving from an off site at a hotel to a shorter event at gallaudet. it's a one day conference. miss britter reviewed expenditures until she was satisfied controls were in place. i believe the i.g. would conclude. we received the report in february 2012. we then began disciplinary actions revised internal controls and adjusted budgets to penalize the regions. i accepted the i.g.'s recommendation, i extended
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disciplinary action to career employees as a complicated process under way. the egregious course and nature of this evidence led me then to terminate two of the political in the line of authority to me and i submitted my own resignation. i personally apologize to the american people, as the head of the agency i am responsible, i deeply regret this, i will mourn for the rest of my life the loss of my appointment. >> mr. robertson. i think your mike's not on. thank you. >> good afternoon, chairman issa, ranking member cummings and members of the commit. thank you for allowing me the opportunity to appear before you today. my name is michael robertson and i'm chief of staff at the u.s. general services administration. like you i'm appalled and disappointed by the conduct surrounding the western region's conference outlined in the i.g. report. the behavior of those responsible undermines g.s.a.'s
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mission, the trust by our government customers and the trust of those we serve, the american people. gsa has accepted all of miller's recommendations and we have taken strong action to prevent further abuses from occurring and will continue to work hard to restore faith in our mission. i appreciate the opportunity to appear today, and look forward to working with this committee and i welcome the opportunity to answer any questions. thank you. >> mr. foley. >> chairman issa, ranking member cummings and members of the committee. thank you for inviting me to testify today. my name is david foley and i'm the deputy commissioner of the building service. i sincerely apologize for my remarks at the awards ceremony for the western region's conference. i was not aware of the significant spending irregularities. i did not intend to condone any wasteful spending or minimize the role of congressional oversight. i especially apologize to congresswoman norton, i have the utmost respect for you, you have always been a strong advocate for gsa and our programs holding us accountable as an agency and
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i did not mean to belittle you or your role in any way. i attempted to make a joke in the context of a talent celebration that i perceived as being similar to a comedic roast. as the deputy commissioner i should have taken the stage to stress that we have a serious job and responsibility as stewards of taxpayer funds. i realize i missed an opportunity to address nearly 300 people in my organization and stress the importance of the work we do. during my presentation at the awards ceremony i told the award recipient i was making his dreams come true by making him commissioner the rest of the day. obviously that was a joke. i was not seriously delegating authority, i also joked about some of the obligations of being the commissioner. my understanding at the time was that the commissioner was paying for the charges associated with the after hours party on tuesday evening, so i tried to use that in a humorous way that suggested that the awardee would have to pay for the party in the hotel. finally i said as the acting commissioner he would have to answer for his proposed pay
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increases in the video, my intent was to point out that the commissioner has a lot of responsibilities and to answer to a lot of people in the administration and congress. not to mock the various oversight roles. my remarks were wrong, and i take full responsibility for what i said. i understand the outrage about this conference, my comments and how they have inflamed all of the issues surrounding this event. i preface the rest of my statement by saying that i have only seen the draft i.g. report that appears to be the same as what's released public i. have i not seen the supporting documents and was not questioned or briefed during the investigation so i do not know all of the details. additionally i no longer have access to my e-mail or files so i have not been able to review or verify my memory of these events. this represents my understanding based upon what i remember from almost two years ago. concerning my role in the western region's conference, again, i want to start by apologizing. i was not directly involved in the planning for the conference or any of the financial and
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contracting irregularities identified in the inspector general's report. i did attend 2 1/2 days of the conference, there were things that seemed over the top but i believed they were not being paid for with government funds. in past conferences items like the tuxedos and the after hour parties were paid for by individuals, not the taxpayer. had i known since what has been revealed i would have been concerned and would have reported it. because of the regional reporting structure in our agency i did not have super advisory control or authority over how the regional budget was spent the, procurement activities or any of the employees in the western region. the regional commissioners and their staff reported directly to the regional administrators who in turn report to the administrator's office. my primary role as the deputy commissioner is dealing with omb, congress and other federal agencies on critical projects and policy issues. i am not a contracting officer and i do not have a warrant to approve expenditures. i attended two of the receptions cited in the i.g. report, one hosted by the commissioner and i understood that he would be

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